What Does Laser Eye Surgery Do?

One of the most frequently asked questions that we get, and often the first question vision centers get, is "what does laser eye surgery do?". To some laser eye surgery, or any vision correction procedure, may sound scary. However, this is far from the case. Depending on what condition you are correcting and the procedure you decide, the answering what laser eye surgery does is multi-parted:

Over the years, there have been major advances in vision correction surgeries and there have been many more surgeries or procedures developed to help eliminate the need for glasses or even contacts. In the earlier years, refractive surgery was known as being the primary corrective surgery that involved making incisions in the cornea that resulted in shape alteration and weakening. This became the initial incisional procedure.

This procedure and concept started more than 50 years ago in Japan. The original surgery consisted of posterior internal cuts but this is something that wouldn't work on many people. This led to several people experiencing bullous keratopathy. This procedure was then modified and has now helped millions of people wearing glasses or contact to see without them. Nowadays, there are several various procedures aimed at vision correction.

Laser eye surgery and other procedures can correct a variety of conditions:

There are now several different operations and correction surgeries that are helping people see without the aid of glasses, contact, or reading glasses. Individuals can now lose the dependency on these items and these procedures can be either cosmetic or elective. There are several complications that are treated with one or more vision corrective surgeries and include:

Myopia: this is when close objects are clear but objects that are far away are not so clear

Hyperopia: this is when objects that are far are clear but close objects are blurry

Astigmatism: this is when you experience warped or even distorted vision that is a cause of the eye's surface being irregular shaped

Presbyopia: this is when the eye shows signs of diminishing abilities to stay focused on any objects that are close to you

So what are the different types of laser eye surgeries and vision correction procedures?

Radial Keratotomy

This is a form of refractive surgery which involves incisions being made by using a diamond knife. There have been studies that have shown procedures that only penetrate the superficial cornea stroma are not going to be as effective as procedures that involve deep incisions that reach deep into the cornea. The incisions are similar to how bike spokes look. These incisions will heal over time and this procedure can be used for healing nearsightedness. It allows the sides of your eye to bulge out to the sides some therefore letting the center of the eye flatten out a little bit.

Intracorneal Ring Segments

These are tiny or small devices that are implanted into the eye to help correct your vision. There needs to be an incision made by an ophthalmologist. These incisions are made in the cornea and 2 crescent shaped devices are inserted in between the cornea stroma layers. One is placed on each side. There will be embedding from these rings that can flatten the cornea and that leads to the pattern of light passing through the eye being changed.

These rings are often used in patients who have myopia. These implants can be removed and this allows for partial reversal of the procedure or to replace the current rings.

Phakic Intraocular Lens Implants

This refractive surgery involves artificial lens' being implanted into the eye on either the posterior or the anterior chambers to help correct errors. The difference between this procedure and cataract surgery is that these lenses are implanted in the natural crystalline lens. Cataract surgery involves natural lenses being removed and replaced with an artificial lens.

Criteria for Vision Corrective Surgery

Before you can get this type of procedure, there are certain criteria that need to be met and include:

18 yrs old for hyperopia or myopia

Be 21 yrs old for astigmatism

No previous eye complications such as unstable refractive error, cataract/glaucoma, or corneal disease

Hyperiopi <+6.00

Astigmatism <5.00

Not be pregnant or breastfeeding

No medical complications such as lupus, diabetic retinotherapy, autoimmune diseases, or keloid formation

So, what does laser eye surgery do? As you can see there are many options and conditions that can be corrected. With this technology millions of people all over the globe have undergone various laser eye surgeries and greatly improved their quality of life.